Archive

Demo Disc #18: Was there cake in this?!

Greetings, digital nomads! We're tucking and rolling straight into housekeeping this week. You may have noticed the last couple of newsletters have been published on a Saturday, rather than a Friday. This is because my work schedule changed at the start of this year, and the latter half

Demo Disc #17: The ghost of Salad Fingers

Happy new year, digital nomads! I hope you all enjoyed an excellent holiday break. I spent mine getting acquainted with that little-known indie gem Balatro, racking up monstrous Mults by combining Hologram with Blueprint before fattening my deck up like a Christmas goose. If you've no idea what

Demo Disc #16: The 10 Best Demos of 2024

Season’s greetings, digital nomads! This is it, the final Demo Disc of 2024. As I suggested might be the case last week, it’s a slightly different affair from usual. Rather than rounding up the demos of the week, I’ll be ranking the best demos of the year

Demo Disc #15: The Bollywood Motorbroom Club

Seasons greetings, digital nomads! Apologies for the interruption in service last week. My hopes for a gentle run to the end of 2024 proved embarrassingly naïve, and December is comfortably the busiest month I’ve had all year. Hence, the time I’d normally spend testing demos was instead spent

Demo Disc #14: The backpacker's guide to quantum mechanics

Greetings, digital nomads! Just a brief intro this week, as I already wrote far too much about this week’s demos and have little in the way of news to share. One quick note though: I’m aware the disc archive is in dire need of updating, and hope to

Demo Disc #13: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral – enemy turn

Greetings, digital nomads! After a short hiatus, we’re back on the demo-scene. I had a pleasant if fleeting time in the States, where if you want to know, I visited Obsidian Entertainment for a sneak-peek of Avowed. Pop over to Eurogamer if you want to read my thoughts on

Demo Disc #12: Get some rest there and lay some eggs

Greetings, digital nomads! Apologies in advance to those of you who prefer your games on the less side of lethal, as this week’s newsletter is a little heavy on spilled claret. While I try to maintain a healthy balance of the four humours in Demo Disc, there was an

Demo Disc #11: The Demon Disc

Greetings, digital nomads! I have a confession to make. I had planned to write a spooky Hallowe’en themed newsletter this week. But between a particularly intense workweek and, I’ll admit, general tiredness following the Next Fest marathon, I ran out of time to do any demo hunting. In

Demo Disc #10: Can I offer you an egg in this dying time?

Greetings, digital nomads! Apologies for the slight tardiness of this week’s newsletter. Between a family visit and a review project that took longer than planned, my schedule has been upended on multiple fronts. But I’m here, only mildly breathless and bedraggled, my top secret dossier of demos safely

Demo Disc #9: The Next Fest Thing - Day 6

Greetings, digital nomads! This is it, the final Next Fest newsletter. I’ve got a cracking trio of games to sign off with, including what might be my personal favourite demo of the event. Next week we’ll be back to the usual format – five game demos delivered on Friday.

Demo Disc #8: The Next Fest Thing – Day 4

Greetings, digital nomads! We’ve reached the end of the week, but Next Fest rolls on. Which brings us to a question I had failed to consider; will there be newsletters across the weekend? After some consideration, I have decided that there will be a newsletter this weekend. I’ll

Demo Disc #7: The Next Fest Thing - Day 3

Greetings, digital nomads! I’m a little pressed for time today, so if you don’t mind I’m going to skip the usual surreal introduction and dive straight to the demos. I hope you’re enjoying the selections from Next Fest thus far. There are a lot of demos

Demo Disc #6: The Next Fest Thing - Day 2

Greetings, digital nomads! I had planned to start today’s Next Fest newsletter with a tortured Boxing Day analogy, something about working through the vast pile of leftovers following the feast of Next Fest’s debut. But to be honest, we’re still thoroughly in gorge mode, our bellies distending

Demo Disc #5: The Next Fest Thing – Day 1

Greetings, digital nomads! He’s been! Multiple reported sightings of Jolly Saint Gabe came in over the wire last night, as he arced across the skies on his giant Steam Deck to bring partially-wrapped presents to PC gamers worldwide. Excited onlookers spied him above Reykjavík, Edinburgh, Oslo, Bucharest, and sailing

Demo Disc #4: The Next Fest Thing – Day 0

Greetings, digital nomads! Apologies for the lack of a newsletter last week. I was away on business for most of it, and as I suspected this left me too little time to delve the depths of Steam's demo dungeon. On the plus side, I'm about to

Demo Disc #3: Ski Sunday, live from the Mountains of Madness

Greetings, digital nomads! This week I’m changing things up a bit. For the last two issues of Demo Disc (or, if you prefer, the first two issues of Demo Disc), I’ve spotlighted demos for games with imminent release dates. I opted for this approach this because it’s

Demo Disc #2: David Lynch presents Ground Force, and other weird tales

Greetings, digital nomads! First off, a huge thank you to all you wonderful new subscribers. I’m right chuffed so many people have climbed aboard this freshly Christened vessel, without once questioning the integrity of the hull, sails, or indeed Captain. All kidding aside, it’s great to have Demo

Demo Disc #1: Nice to Meat you, can I Lure you in?

Greetings, digital nomads! Welcome to Demo Disc, a weekly selection of game demos inspired by the video game magazines of the nineties, frisbeeing across the Internet straight to your inbox every Friday. I’m Rick Lane, and I've been a professional video game journalist for the past *counts